In Competition
12th Edition

Roya

Directed by Mahnaz Mohammadi 

Czech Republic, Iran

93 mins

2025

Roya, an Iranian teacher imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin Prison for her political beliefs, is faced with a choice: make a forced televised confession or remain confined to her three-square-metre cell. As past and present slip out of sequence and exchange places, she moves between inner landscapes and lived experience. The film reveals how solitary confinement reshapes both perception and identity and makes the possibility of resistance increasingly fragile.

Credits

Director
Mahnaz Mohammadi
Writer
Mahnaz Mohammadi
Producer
Farzad Pak, Kaveh Farnam, Bady Minck, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu
Cinematographer
Ashkan Ashkani
Production Design
Alborz Malekpour
Editor
Esmaeel Monsef
Sound
Ensieh Maleki Tirdad Shabankareh
Cast
Melisa Sözen Maryam Palizban Hamidreza Djavdan Mohammad Ali Hosseinalipour Bacho Meburishvili

Screenings

Fri 17 Apr 2026, 6:45pm
Past Event SYD Palace Moore Park - Cinema 2